The present disclosure relates generally to nondestructive evaluation of materials and, more particularly, to methods and systems for use in inspecting a composite structure for irregularities.
Known aircraft systems are increasingly being fabricated from composite materials. At least some structures fabricated from composite materials may include irregularities, such as wrinkles, formed during fabrication that may affect and/or alter a mechanical property of the composite material. As such, at least some structures fabricated from composite materials undergo nondestructive evaluation and/or inspection prior to installation and/or use.
One known method of inspecting such structures includes pulse-echo ultrasound and/or X-ray radiography. At least some such methods, however, only detect a shadow of the irregularity and, thus, a severity and/or a depth of the irregularity may not be fully characterized. Moreover, at least some such methods may be tedious and/or time consuming.